Minute Man
by The-Great-Poptart
Summary: A whole lifetime can be taken away in a blink of an eye, but when you spend your whole life destroying everything, you only need a minute to discover the reasons you never had.It’s easy to believe time is an illusion until you put a timer on someones head
1. Chapter 1

Minute-Man

A whole life-time of building what you have can be taken away in a blink of an eye, but when you spend your whole life destroying everything, you only need a minute to discover the reasons you never had. It's easy to believe time is an illusion until you put a timer on someone's life. SasuNaru and others

Dark icky things lurk everywhere in this fic. Be warned. Happy things are not my forte.

Very much A/U.

I own nothing.

Prologue

* * *

He coughed unable to breathe. The clench of his fist gave away his discomfort despite his attempts to hide the spasms of pain, he should have been used to it by now.

"Naruto-niisan… Are you okay?"

Naruto smiled softly down at the young boy. "I'm okay, Konohamaru. Where are the others?"

"Iruka asked all the children to come in early. It's going to rain tonight."

"Hmm… Well, you should go join them. I won't be long, I just need to stop by The Post."

The young boy's eyes lit up in excitement and anticipation. "Can you bring me something back? Like licorice or chocolate?"

Naruto's eyes squinted with amusement at the hyperactive child. "Those things are a bit expensive, but I'll see what I can bring back for everyone."

"You won't get caught in the rain, right?"

Clear laughter rang through the air as Naruto brought his arm up to shield himself from an offending dust cloud brought in by the wind. "I'll be home way before then, don't worry. Besides, this is the only chance we'll have to catch the bread truck. We shouldn't turn our nose up at free food."

Casually throwing a wave over his shoulder, Naruto made his way down the dirt road, the years of vehicles and feet compacting it enough to allow it to stand out from the rest of the land that was swallowed by lose blowing dust and sand. A heavy pack of trade goods hung from his right shoulder, the goods created by the orphans down the road. Small trinkets and toys, obviously made by children, but made from love all the same.

Naruto yelled behind him one more time at the boy idolizing him as he walked away, "don't forget to help Iruka lock down the orphanage before the rain." And then he was gone, swallowed up by the dust.

* * *

The town of Virmische was little more than shacks that stood only because they were huddled so close together they were supported by the others from the invading dust storms. Nothing more than thrown together shanties from the mass amount of people fleeing the large cities. People had learned quickly to make sure they had cover before they slept at night or die in their sleep from suffocation. The dust in the air was a quick killer of ranks for new travelers.

Naruto himself hadn't traveled much and while he hadn't been born in the tiny town of Virmische, he couldn't remember much of the time before he had. He wasn't going to complain, though, he enjoyed living with Iruka and the orphans. In fact, three years ago it had been Iruka who had given him his name. Uzumaki Naruto. He said it was because he had shown up during the first actual storm they had had in years. One that had almost caused more harm then good, followed by more than two tornadoes that quickly surrounded the town. He had been found, miraculously alive, after the storm had stopped.

He recalled telling Iruka once that maelstroms only happened at sea. Iruka had then replied that they were at sea.

And he had been right. A sea of dust and dirt , but a sea none the less, with a town floating somewhere in the center. This was his home.

Coming upon the town, Naruto was immediately greeted by several well-wishers who cocked their hat in his direction. Giving a short bow in return, he quickly made his way to the trading post to deal with the current goods in his possession. The town had taken to Naruto just like he had taken to them, quickly and with much affection.

The Trading Post, unlike most of the town was an actual building of wood. One of the first constructed, like the orphanage outside of town. The wood was grayish white from age and tilted to the left from standing above the rest of the buildings, officially causing it to take the brunt of the blowing sand. Queerly enough, the sign proclaiming the nature of the business tilted the other way. The owner's wife once told him that because they couldn't tilt the building back into place, then tilting the sign the other way would give it a much more rounded look. Naruto had tried hard not to laugh at her reasoning then and merely nodded in acceptance. Now, he would tend to agree with her.

The Post also doubled as a bar on the other side, and many travelers would find themselves spending time and money in the bottom of a bottle. Many people took refuge here when it rained, the reason it was so packed today. So when Naruto came to town he also took it as a chance to learn about the outside world as much as possible. He might not have wanted to leave, but he was still curious.

"It's going to rain tonight," came the somber voice of the old man behind the counter. "I miss the days it used to be a good thing."

Naruto looked skeptically at the old man. "Rain used to be a good thing?"

"Once."

"Then I wish it would rain like it used to." Naruto gave the man a smile as he unloaded his wares. "Hey!"

The bumbling dirty cloth of an old migrant woman pushed against Naruto, spirits crested her breath with a sour smell. Her eyes had a feverish look to them that caused him to look away. "Be careful what you wish for."

And then she had left as quickly as she came.

The Post owner was to Naruto's side before he knew how to respond. "You okay, boy? She didn't fiddle ya' did she? That old bat's been running around here lately proclaiming herself 'The Great Lady Tsunade', whatev'r that means."

Checking his pockets, Naruto shook his head. "No, I still have all of my money." A grin spread across his face. "But, I would like some more."

Laughing the old man went back around the counter. "Then lets get these sold!"

Unfortunately the sound of sirens cut off any more conversation. "It's the rain! It's coming" could be heard from out on the streets. People pushed their way into the building and Naruto found himself lost in a sea of bodies.

"Hold on to my stuff, old man. I'll be back for it later!" Naruto shouted over the commotion.

"Where are you going, boy!? Come back!" However, the pleas of the old man went unheeded as Naruto fought through the quickly amassing people.

Pushing and shoving, Naruto managed to fight his way towards the broken down door of The Post. His hand shook as he went to push it open, but bony fingers held him in place. The old woman from earlier grinned at him with broken and missing teeth. "Hey! Let go of me! I need to get home, I promised I would."

"You can't go out there, now, boy." The smell of spirits still assaulted his senses even with the compacted dirty bodies that surrounded him. Naruto didn't hesitate to pry her fingers from his wrist before flinging open the door and running outside into the now deserted streets.

And that's when the first explosion hit.

It was pretty far from the Post and heading away from his current location, but the ground still shook and poorly made shacks crumbled behind him. More bombs followed the first as they fell from the sky, the earth shaking and somewhere over the sirens he could here the cry of a child.

Naruto lost his footing on the ground as the tremors beneath him became more violent. He quickly scrambled over against the side of The Post, gripping one of the beams supporting the terrace roof. He huddled his body into as small of a ball as possible so any falling debris would be less likely to hit him. Opening his eyes- when had he closed them?- he watched the 'rain' fall from the sky, he watched as they headed in a direction they rarely went. As they passed over the area where the orphanage was Naruto closed his eyes again and began to count. _30...31...32..._

_60 seconds. _Because the 'rain' never lasted for more than 60 seconds. Never more, never less. It would come and then go and all the towns people would hope and prey that their homes and loved ones would be missed during the brief show of hell.

In 60 seconds, Naruto opened his eyes, stood up from the terrace with a large calming breath and ran towards his home. He joined the rest of the town as they preyed and searched for their loved ones.

* * *

In all of his memories Naruto could recall that, despite all the terror and despair, never once did he honestly believe that the little orphanage in the distance would succumb to the bombs that devastated the world. He had slowly came to believe that it was the one place safe from all the heart ache of the war that ravaged every town and city.

Naruto fell to his knees, he was naïve to ever believe that. He clenched his fist and shouted out at the sky, "why does this war never end, huh!? What is there left to fight over!?"

The tears that fell from his eyes left streaks down his face from the dirt that covered it, black smoke blowing in his face. The embers of the burning wood smothered by the ever engulfing dust clouds. His fist clenched and his back bowed in defeat.

"Why!?"

The cackle and coughing behind him made his vision swim in anger. He turned quickly on his heel, no longer on his knees , but in a squatting position. "What the hell are you laughing at!?" It was the old woman from The Post, she had followed him here.

"You see what happens when you wish for the rain."

Naruto felt his anger subside, replaced by a chilling numbness. His arms went slack by his side, sweeping against the dirt beneath him and his face became blank as he turned once more to the orphanage. The building was now only a pile of kindle and limbs turn from bodies decorated the broken support beams like ornaments. He could even make out a head from somewhere underneath the rubble, but no body. The building had suffered a direct hit, no one survived.

A toothless grin and another suppressed cough was easily distinguishable in the voice that filtered into his thoughts. "What will you do now, boy?"

"I'm going to end this war. I swear it." To anybody else watching him, they would have thought he was talking to himself.

"No matter what, they will understand my pain." Naruto's eyes burned red.

* * *

Prologues are fun, hopefully you think so too!

Cheers!


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto ground out his cigarette on the heel of his boot, his legs loosely crossed. His gun was a comforting weight on his hip and the large rocks surrounding him provided perfect cover from any unwanted attention and the dust clouds that kicked up every once in awhile. Reaching behind him he brought up a sniper rifle to rest on the rock in front of him, shifting to better gaze through the scope of the gun.

Almost a thousand feet at the bottom of the rock face men were loading crates into a boxcar to be loaded on to a train. The large warehouse the men were hefting the crates from was surrounded by barbed wire and men held posts around the workers, their guns held at ready. Naruto closed one eye as he focused in on one of the crates. A red fan was emblazoned on its side.

"Uchiha Corporation…" Naruto snorted as he sat back on his hunches. "Using a private rail way to avoid the civilian rail patrols checkpoints. Why am I not surprised. Everything to insure peace my ass."

Additional movement coming out from the building caught Naruto's attention. Once again shifting, he glanced through the scope of the sniper again. Men were being led out in a group, burlap bags covered their heads and chains linked them together. A man with long blonde hair hustled the group into a line, his black and red cape blew in the wind. "Now this is interesting."

"They are members of the Foundation."

Naruto snorted, "they're stupid bastards to get caught by the Uchiha Corps."

"They're on our side."

Naruot didn't bother to turn around, he knew the speaker wouldn't be there. "If you say so, old hag. Things are a bit uneven on their side, isn't it?"

Taking careful aim, Naruto reched behind him and pulled a grenade from the pack sitting by his feet, pulling the pin he chucked it at a group of gaurds helping to load the crates into the train. Timing himself perfectly, Naruto shot the sniper rifle at the exact moment of the explosion, the chains keeping the prisoners bound together shattered in the middle.

Chaos erupted. Some men had began to shoot in random directions in an attempt to discover the hidden enemy while others ran for cover, the blonde man in the red and black cape fought to regain his control over the situation. _He's definitely in charge here. _Naruto readied himself for another shot, he didn't have a lot of time before he was discovered.

Some of the prisoners had begun to run, discovering their freedom, others had dropped to the ground in terror at the shoot out. All of them were being gunned down by the men surrounding the camp. _It seems they don't want to leave survivors,_ Naruto took aim for the blonde man in charge who seemed to have given up on restoring order to his men and had taken off towards the train. Waiting patiently for the blonde man to pause for the short moment it would take to pull himself onto one of the attached boxcars he readied his finger, his crosshairs fixed on the man's head. The man turned to look right at him. An insane grin plastered on his face. Naruto hesitated. Then he understood.

"Shit!" He took off at full speed leaping over the rocks and literally diving down the side in a tumble. He wasn't nearly as concerned about the fall killing him as the explosion that rocked the ground around him, causing an avalanche of dirt and rock to tumble down behind him. The whole rock face was falling down behind him. Landing hard on his feet he took off at an unbelievable pace and headed towards the crates that were still intact. He took refuge behind the largest crate and braced himself against the metal surface, one hand pulling the thick material of his black coat tightly around his mouth and nose. Before he knew it, everything was buried underneath rock and rubble.

* * *

"Have you located Mother, yet?"

"No, Sir." The voice had wavered in terror of the man before him.

"Hmmm…"Cold calculating eyes bore into the man standing at attention before him. "Jiraiya is a brilliant man. Tell me, Orochimaru, you knew the man best. Where would he have hidden Mother?"

The mentioned man shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of the man that sat at the head of the large mahogany table, the reporting soldier, clad in Uchiha Corps. Army gear, still stood at attention to his right. A snear graced his lips as he started to reply, his golden eyes glancing at the other man seated at the table.

"Mother is a lost cause, Itachi. Knowing that fool he would have destroyed the program. What we should focus on is the completion of GOD…"

"GOD is a useless weapon without the Mother program to support it," Itachi spoke softly, almost to himself. "Sasori."

"The cloaked man grinned at the call of his name. "Yes, Itachi?"

"How is the additional research on GOD?"

Sasori paused, taking a moment to choose his words. Itachi wasn't a man you wanted to upset. "Well, we have successfully been able to recreate the original frame work, it functions wonderfully beyond expectations. However, the original GOD was pure genius and our copy was unable to operate to the capacity of the original. Sasuke 24, 26, 27, and 28 have been scrapped due to that inability."

"And the disposal procedures?"

"Deidara is taking care of it."

* * *

Naruto slowly unburied himself from the dirt and rock that should have crushed anyone just standing around. A lucky thing he had managed to take cover. Pulling himself free he started to look around the landscape. It was nightfall.

Completely covered in rock including the building that had held the crates. _Whatever was here they didn't want anybody to find it._ "Talk about heavy duty security." Naruto shook the dust out of his hair. "And I highly doubt any of the prisoners made it out alive."

"There is one person still alive here."

"Really, old hag?" He glanced around again. "Where?"

"Dig down."

Naruto snorted and began to dig and he dug until daybreak. Finally he was able to uncover the top of the metal crate that had provided some refuge from the rock slide. He stomped down on the top to let whoever know that he was going to open it from the top corner. Taking out his modified revolver, he let a grin spread across his face. "I hope you're still alive. Fire in the hole!"

Shooting a circle through the metal he took his foot and stomped down again, effectively popping a hole in the container. Next, Naruto dropped to his knees and gazed down through it. "Anyone alive in there?"

When he received no response he dropped down into the hole. "Since when does Uchiha ship people in boxes… Old hag, I think you're loosing your touch." But, that was when he saw it. In the far corner of the crate, just enough light shined through for black eyes to pier back in the darkness.

"Hello?" Naruto moved closer to the body and gave it a kick. "Are you dead?'

The body jerked and straightened. Its head turning to the speaker. Its eyes immediately turning red.

"What the hell!?" Naruto readied his guns at the strange thing in front of him. "Old hag, what is this?"

Before the voice of the old women could answer the thing spoke for itself, the red glow of its eyes returning to normal. "I am Sasuke. Model 24."


End file.
